Exploring Disability Identity and Disability Rights through Narratives

Book excerpt: Building on David M. Engel and Frank W. Munger’s work analyzing the narratives of people with physical and learning disabilities, this book examines the life stories of twelve physically disabled Canadian adults through the prism of the social model of disablement. Using a grounded theory approach and with extensive reporting of the thoughts of the participants in their own words, the book uses narratives to explore whether an advocacy identity helps or hinders dealings with systemic barriers for disabled people in education, employment, and transportation. The book underscores how both physical and attitudinal barriers by educators, employers and service providers complicate the lives of disabled people. The book places a particular focus on the importance of political economy and the changes to the labour market for understanding the marginalization and oppression of people with disabilities. By melding socio-legal approaches with insights from feminist, critical race, and queer legal theory, Ravi Malhotra and Morgan Rowe ask if we need to reconsider the social model of disablement, and proposes avenues for inclusive legal reform.